All about EIZO

The Company

EIZO is the Japanese word for "image" and the name of one of the world's leading manufacturers of high-end monitor solutions.

EIZO claims to build the best possible monitor for all areas of application. So EIZO monitors can be found anywhere where excellent image quality is desired or absolutely necessary. This includes, for example: Back offices, hospitals, air traffic control centres, design and photo studios, ships' bridges, architecture offices, stock exchanges, and gaming tournaments.

Origins in Japan

The EIZO Corporation was founded in 1968 and has its headquarters in Japan's Hakusan/Ishikawa. The company is listed on the Tokyo stock exchange.

EIZO is represented by its regional offices and exclusive sales partners in over 80 countries. The close-knit distribution network provides proximity to customers and enables rapid delivery of high-end monitor solutions with comprehensive service. EIZO currently employs more than 2325 employees worldwide.

EIZO in Europe

EIZO is represented in nearly all European countries through Group companies and a broad distributor network.

The majority of European sales and marketing activities are bundled under EIZO Europe GmbH. The headquarters are in Mönchengladbach, Germany. Additional subsidiaries are located in Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands, and the Czech Republic. Sister companies are also located in Austria, Switzerland, the UK, and Sweden.

Moreover, EIZO has two production sites in Germany.

EIZO Logo

The colour of the EIZO logo used since 1996 represents RGB (Red, Green, Blue) constituting the three primary colours of light. In addition, various meanings and thoughts were included in the design.

Analog image (Sea of Japan)

A sense of action and assertiveness in the corporate presence

Interface image - Compatibility with the environment and the community

History

EIZO can look back on decades of experience in developing, producing, and selling first-rate monitors – and it possesses the corresponding expertise.

Founding and Early Innovation (1968 - 1981)

1968

Black and White TVsEizo Nanao Corporation was founded as Hakui Electric Corporation in the quiet city of Hakui, Japan. EIZO began as an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) of black and white televisions.

1973

Name changeThe company changed its name to Nanao Corporation.

1978

Table top gaming monitorsEIZO entered the gaming market by beginning the manufacture and sale of tabletop video arcade machines. An EIZO table top was used with one of the 20th century's most recognizable arcade games: Space Invaders.

1980

Hardware and now softwareEIZO acquired Irem Corporation, a maker and purveyor of software for home and industrial use. Integrating its hardware and software expertise would become the core of EIZO's business model in the years to come and remains that way today.

1981

New factory, future headquartersAs the company continued to grow, a new factory was built on a parcel of land adjacent to several acres of rice fields in Hakusan, Japan that later became the company's international headquarters.

Creating the Brand (1984 - 1990)

1984

Going GlobalCapitalizing on a global PC revolution, EIZO decided to expand its business overseas by founding Hitec Associates Ltd. (later renamed Eizo Corporation) in Kanazawa, Japan as a sales subsidiary for the European market.

1985

New brandsAfter 17 years as an OEM manufacturer, the company began a new chapter in its history by selling its display monitors under its own name – or two names as it turned out. For the North American market, the company founded Nanao USA Corporation in California (now operating as EIZO Inc.) and sold its monitors under the NANAO brand name. In Europe, the company took a different route and chose the brand name "EIZO," which is the Japanese word for "image".

The first EIZO/NANAO monitors had 12- or 14-inch screen diagonals as well as a “compact design and low weight.” Particularly worth mentioning: Back then, the monitors had an “ultra-high resolution of 700 pixels x 400 lines,” according to a product brochure for the 8040 model.

1990

New facilities, new headquartersTo accommodate continuing growth, EIZO built new global headquarters and a research and development facility in Hakusan, Japan, next to a plant it opened in 1981. The following year, EIZO added a second plant.

Worldwide Brand Success (1991 - 1999)

1991

NANAO in JapanAfter seeing its products appear on the shelves of Tokyo electronics stores as "reverse imports," the company began the sale of CRT display monitors for personal computers in its home market of Japan under the NANAO brand name.

1993

1996

Unified brand name, new logo, new monitor designThe company discontinued using the NANAO brand name in North America and Japan and adopted EIZO as its brand name worldwide. With this global brand name came a new EIZO logo and distinctive new CRT monitor cabinet design which became a hit with business and home users alike.

1997

LCD monitor productionAdvances in LCD technology combined with a demand for more space-efficient monitors made it feasible to begin mass production of LCD monitors for PCs. EIZO brought one of the first LCD products to market with the 13.8-inch FlexScan L23.

1998

ISO 14001 certificationAcquired ISO 14001 Environmental Management System Certification, a management system EIZO has updated three times since then.

1999

Company name changeNanao Corporation and Eizo Corporation merged and assumed the company's present name of Eizo Nanao Corporation.

Innovation in the 21st Century (2001 - today)

2001

World's thinnest desktop LCD monitorWhen LCD monitors first became widely available in the late 1990's, their bezel widths rivaled those of CRT monitors. EIZO changed all that with the release of the FlexScan L675, the world's first thin-bezel desktop LCD monitor. With a bezel width of what at the time was a revolutionary18.5 mm, the L675 was an instant hit in trading rooms and back offices.

2002

Medical marketWith the rapid digitization of images in the medical field, EIZO entered the medical imaging market with its RadiForce line of monitors.

5th anniversary LCD monitorTo commemorate five years of manufacturing LCD monitors, EIZO released "Placeo", a 17-inch model with an aluminum cabinet. Only 3,000 pieces of this limited edition monitor were manufactured.

EIZO Eco ProductsThe company established "EIZO Eco Products" as an eco logo with the purpose of ensuring its products meet an internal set of criteria for environmental consciousness. EIZO has since updated EIZO Eco Products three times.

2003

LCD monitors for colour professionalsAlthough the migration to LCD technology in the corporate world was well underway, professionals in colour-critical fields such as pre-press and photography were still clinging to their aging CRTs. EIZO made it safe for them to finally make the switch when it introduced its ColorEdge series – the world's first line of LCD monitors specifically targeted at graphics professionals.

2004

World's first Adobe RGB LCD monitorBuilding on the initial success of its ColorEdge monitors, EIZO introduced the ColorEdge CG220, the world's first LCD monitor capable of reproducing the Adobe RGB colour space.

Back to the beginningEIZO returned to its roots as a TV manufacturer with the introduction of the FORIS line of LCD TVs in Japan.

2005

Swiss subsidiary establishedEIZO acquired the Eizo Business Unit of EXCOM AG, its sales distributor in Switzerland, and established the fully owned subsidiary Eizo Nanao AG.

ISO 13485 certificationEIZO became the first stand-alone monitor manufacturer to receive ISO 13485 certification for the quality management system for its medical display devices.

2007

New acquisitions expand vertical market businessEIZO acquired graphics board developer and manufacturer, Tech Source, Inc. of Florida, USA. With this acquisition, EIZO entered the air traffic control, military and defence, and command and control markets.

Later this year, EIZO acquired the medical monitor business of Germany's Siemens A&D and established a new subsidiary, EIZO GmbH, in Karlsruhe, Germany. Through this acquisition, EIZO expanded its presence in the medical market, strengthened its R&D expertise, and now had production capability in Germany.

New R&D facility The company opened a new 2.5 billion yen, six floor research and development centre within its global headquarters in Hakusan, Japan. (see image above)

2008

Further vertical market expansionEIZO entered into a definitive agreement with eg-electronic GmbH of Wolfratshausen, Germany to acquire the latter's business units for industrial monitors, air traffic control monitors, and monitor control boards. The acquisition was finalized in February 2009 and a new subsidiary, EIZO Technologies GmbH, in Wolfratshausen, Germany, officially began operations.

2009

FORIS Goes GlobalPreviously only available in Japan, EIZO expanded its FORIS line of TVs to include PC monitors for home entertainment and released FORIS monitors worldwide.

2010

Factory for the Chinese marketAnticipating rapid growth in China for medical services and medical devices, EIZO established a wholly-owned subsidiary in China, EIZO Display Technologies (Suzhou) Co. Ltd., to manufacture medical monitors for the Chinese market.

2011

German and UK subsidiaries establishedEIZO founded two wholly-owned subsidiaries in order to expand European sales and marketing activities: EIZO Europe GmbH (Germany) and EIZO Limited (United Kingdom). (Pictured to the right: the EIZO Europe GmbH headquarters in Mönchengladbach, Germany)

2013

Company name changeChanged company name from Eizo Nanao Corporation to EIZO Corporation.

2015

Acquisitions of medical system integration business from Imation Corporation JapanEIZO acquires Imation’s medical system integration business in Japan through a wholly-owned company named EIZO Medical Solutions Inc. .

2016

Acquisitions of endoscopy monitor business from Panasonic Healthcare JapanEIZO acquired endoscopy monitor business from Panasonic Healthcare Co., Ltd. of Japan.